Audience Profile

Name - Hardev

Age - 19

Occupation - Currently working as a DJ for Cross Counties Radio Leicester and has a Hip Hop, RnB, Grime show. He also is a beat maker for big grime artists such as Skepta, Giggs and JME. He currently studies and is in the second year of his A-Levels which are coming to an end.

Interests - Hardev has many interests including listening to Hip Hop, going out shopping and in his spare time working on creating beats. Hardev is always up to date on street wear fashion and you would never fail to find hip copping a pair of new Jordan's or out and about in town searching for a new Crooks and Castles jacket. He spends a lot of time with friends and always has a new beat to show them or a new freestyle rap to listen to. 

Favourite Artists - Skepta, 2pac, Notorious BIG, Mobb Deep, Predator, Giggs, The Game

Favourite Magazines - Respect, Rap-up, Complex, Fader

Favourite Brands - Crooks and Castles, Air Jordan, Undefeated, Ralph Lauren, Bape, Apple.

Page Harmony

The layout of the page harmony is showing the three main areas of the magazine cover. The first eye catching area will be in the top left square. This is where you would either find the first letter of the header of in this case the signature 'F' from The Fader magazines. The third main part of the cover is shown in the rectangle right in the centre of the page. This is where the main image for the cover is and it is the second thing which catches the readers eye. The third and final most important area of the cover is the space inside the triangle shown at the bottom. This is where you would either see a small caption or in this case, the main persons name.

Analysis of Colour Palattes

This red, black, grey and white colour palette is the most used theme in hip hop magazines. This is because of the darkness of the colours and also the plain, simple and well fitting features that all of these colours have. Each colour is complementary to each other but the main ones would be black on red and white on black. This theme of colours is an option for my magazine because it will suit it well but there are also other options I can explore to make my magazine unique to other hip hop and rap magazines because most of them use this colour palette.

This is another colour palette I can use within my magazine. All 4 colours suit because they are dark and light shades and also I have not seen many hip hop magazines with this colour scheme so it will make my magazine unique and original to my own personal idea. Purple is a good colour to use for some rappers because in the industry they see purple as the colour of royalty so if I show this colour scheme then the majority of my target audience should find it interesting and attractive. 

Magazine Pitch

Analysis of 3 Magazines - Contents Page

The header on this contents page shows the word 'Contents' and also the title of the magazine in the top right corner. The way the font is bold makes it stand out from the page and also the creator of this page has made the wording very original and unique to magazines made from 'Vibe' because of the way the word is broke up into three sections. The three sections are placed very close together to show the reader this is still only one word. This also makes it fill more of the page. The colour of the header is shown as white because it is a very contrasting colour to the background that is shown which is a dark burgundy red.

The text on this page is shown on the left hand side and takes up around 20% of the page which tells you that the main parts of the page are either the image or the title. The font of the writing explaining the contents of this magazine is in quite a fancy writing and is formal. This font is also white which is again contrasting to the background colour.

The image of this contents page shows a rapper holding chains against his face and also showing his gold teeth, tattoos, and wrist accessories. The lighting shown on the rapper is in the exact places so you can see his muscular figure and also his tattoos. The background also shows a burgundy red colour and there is also a big 'V' shown to illustrate the title of this magazine.

On this contents page the word 'Contents' is not shown anywhere which is unusual in a magazine but there are other main headers on the page such as 'the A-side' at the top of the page which has a colour scheme that runs throughout the page and also the name of the magazine 'XXL'. The space of the header takes up around 20% of the page.

The text shown on the right of this page is very thorough with explaining what is in this magazine and also there are different fonts used. The use of different fonts may be to show the reader which parts of this magazine stand out and also to make the actual ext on the contents page stand out because the reader may not realise this is the contents page. This text shown on the right of the page takes up around 40% of the page which equals the amount of space the header and the image take up. The colour of this font is white to make it contrast with the background colour but the numbering on this page is shown as black which is to keep the colour scheme in the page. 

The image shown on this contents page is a full image of the rapper Dr Dre who is standing with a laid back pose and also the way the lighting is shown makes a shadow of him in the background on the text which is an original feature to have in this magazine. The way he is dressed is also sticking to the same colour scheme as the header, the text and the background. This colour scheme is red, black and white which is very popular in most hip hop magazines.

This is a contents page from the magazine 'Hip Hop Connection'. The title/header shown above the contents explanation says 'Feature' which is another word which can be used for contents. The reason why I think this magazine has used a different word is to be unique and original with their layout, design and wording of the headers. Again there is a dark background and image used so the obvious complementary colour would be white which makes the title stand out to the reader. Also the font is quite bold and easy to read. Compared to the other magazine the headers take up only a tiny part of the page which gives more room for the image and text.

The main text is shown down the left side of the page and also has sub headings that include different sizes and colours which stick to a theme and also the numbers on the side of the heading are a different colour to the text to again stand out but mainly to show a theme throughout the page. Another thing which caught my eye on this context page is the connection between the text in the bottom right corner and the image. This text shows the page number and headline of the main story from the artist. This is a unique technique for a hip hop magazine.

The image on this page shows the rapper 'Kano' who is showing no facial expressions and is looking away from the camera. An original technique shown here is the way the image is portrayed as the actual background and is shown in a close up view.

Hip Hop Magazine Mood Board

Here is a mood board made on Photoshop of all the different Hip Hop and Rap magazines. The magazines which inspire me the most are the 'Rap-up' magazines because of the unique colour schemes and themes and also 'Respect.' because of the layout and neatness of the covers.

Analysis of 3 Magazines - Covers

Ziet Magazin (Germany), the title for this German magazine is presented in a very neat and formal way. The font used is almost like posh and expensive newspaper headline and also inside the title there is a symbol which may also represent this magazine as well as the title. Due to there being 2 covers for this magazine the editor/designer has had to find a way to keep the title the same but still look right for both the covers. 

The way this cover is laid out is in a very messy but also very precise way. Both of the images are complimentary to the title with the use of colours. Also the font could be complimentary with the way the title still stands out even though it is not a very bold font and the images are very powerful.

Both the images shown on this magazine cover are very powerful with the actual image it self and also how they are laid out and the way they represent what the text says. The wide use of colour palettes used in this cover makes it stand out to any other magazine because it is a very unique and original idea. The actual images are of different foods and drinks but made into cartoon like characters.

The text on the first cover where it shows the purple drinks cup says 'you are what you eat' in German which relates to the the images on both covers because they shows different foods and drinks but with facial features such as eyes and mouths. 

The title for this magazine 'Esquire' is in a very urban like font and seems to blend in and match the background image but also stand out and be recognisable as the title at the same time. Another way this title stands out is because it is in a slight grey shade of colour which matches both the background and also the image of the male models costume.

The layout of this cover is very neat, detailed and precise with the way each pattern and word connects to one another and also they all have spaces between them and the image of the man and dog. Also the image is shown as the main subject of the cover because it overlaps the title and the back ground patterns do not cross it, and also it is right in the centre of the page so the first thing you see is the main image.

The image showing a man in his early 30's holding a terrier in his arm is the centre of attention in this cover because of the way he is shown in the middle of the page and is covering a tiny bit of the title which is showing the image comes before the title so it is the main part of this magazine cover.

The text in the background on this cover shows the different names of celebrities at the top who will be shown in the magazine and at the sides of the image the text shows some writing about what the main parts of the magazine are about.

'The Hollywood Reporter' is the title for this entertainment magazine which is shown in a bright and colourful cherry red colour so that the title is the first thing that catches the readers eye. There are two different fonts used for this title one is a more comic approach and the other is more formal and laid back. Also if you look at other magazines made by this company, all of their titles use the same font and almost exactly the same positioning but are always a different colour to match the theme of the cover and image.

The layout on this cover is well thought out with the colour scheme including the font, the image and the plain background. The text going through the middle of the page is a tiny bit bigger than the title but it is in a less brighter font which means the title stands out more. Also the way the text at the sides of the image do not over lap it makes the picture stand out more.

The image is the main feature on this cover because it is the top story which will be shown in the magazine which is why it is central and none of the side text over laps onto the image. The text going over Kevin Harts 'hair' is in a similar colour to the hair so it does not stand out too much but you are able to easily read what it still says.

There are a number of different texts used on this cover but there are only two colours used to keep it to a theme. The text at the sides of the image are also placed at the right positions to make the image the main subject.